About

We are Jackie and Marco, a couple having been together for more than 25 years. We are both originally from Switzerland and fell in love with Southern California, when Marco did his MBA in San Diego in [...]

Snakes, airplanes and a delicious dinner

Fall has arrived even here in San Diego and the temperatures have come down. As there were even some clouds and a chili breeze today, we headed out to Lake Miramar for a nice Sunday morning walk. We already knew that there are rattle snakes in that area but so far had never seen one. Today, we get a warning from a guy walking the other way around the lake that there was a big rattle snake just a the side of the way. Indeed it was at least 3 or 4 feet long and as thick as my wrist! It was taking a bath in the sun and then heading slowly up into the bushes – too bad, the camera is in the car!

Shortly after this dangerous but fascinating encounter the “Canadian Forces Snowbirds” (a group of 9 airplanes, performing during the Miramar Airshow this weekend) fly close by – too bad, the camera is still in the car!

Well after this long walk we feel hungry and go shopping for a real Sunday treat. As we got inspired by Marco’s father, we specifically look for some lamb. In the first store we don’t find anything tempting, so we walk out again and go to the next store where we find what we are looking for: lamp legs (gigot)! We get the smallest one (about 4 pounds)! At home Marco quickly roasts it and then we transfer it into the other pan which is higher, adding some rosemary, which we found this morning along the way, some vegetables and some broth and then the lid…. but wait, there is about 1 inch in between the the pan and the lid, the roast is too thick! We eventually find a frying pan which we take upside down instead of the lid, but even this is not deep enough so we have to take all our plates and put them on top as additional weight to seal the pot! The result after about 2.5 hours braising: a delicious lamp leg, so tender that it almost falls off the bone! We enjoy it with some butter potato scallops and some brussels sprouts!!! Mmmmmmhhhh, sooo good! And…. as it looks, we will have lamp for the whole of next week!